We’re All In This Together

Mmmm.  Homeward bound. 

 I’m home in VA now.  Time to wash the van funk off me.  See you all soon again.

 Thank you for always making me feel like there is someone out there listening. 

-Andy

Check this article out. Very interesting stuff. 

 http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/story.aspx?siteid=mktw&guid=%7BBA27DA69-B92A-473A-AF46-0CBE9DFA59EE%7D

This is more evidence that the music industry is changing drastically, and the old powers behind the curtain are trying to figure out how to deal with everything. People want the music they connect with for less and they want it now. This is a good thing for me, because that’s exactly the way I plan on getting my songs to you. It’s David vs. Goliath.

(At the Apple store just north of Houston. It’s pouring outside, as I type this. It rained last time I was here too. Strange.) I have been listening to Prince almost non stop for a couple of days now. Shawn has a few songs on his i-pod, so I have been studying the artist formerly known as the artist. Man…Purple Rain. I know I am stating the obvious here, but it’s such an amazing song. I get goosebumps at the falsetto vocal part at the end every time. Not many songs can do that for me now. I’m jaded, I guess. I wish I could go back and tell myself never to lose that wonder about music. The first time I ever saw a huge rock show (U2, Achtung Baby tour) I was in complete awe. I couldn’t figure out how so much sound and emotion was filling an entire area. If I saw the same show today, I would probably love it, but be disecting everything that happened on stage. I’m not saying music has lost it’s impact on me…I guess I’m just harder to please now. There is so much music out there. More emo bands and Myspace stars to know what to do with. Sometimes the cream rises to the top. Sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes the real songs that speak to your soul are still waiting to be discovered at the back of a filthy bar…and when you hear them you know. You know all the “it” bands will fade away. Just like they always have. And the ones with the voices that carry over that hollow ring will overcome again. I want to overcome. I want to have songs that reach people and make them feel big things. Make them think about their world, who they love - all the questions that should be asked from time to time…when you’re listening to Purple Rain.

YouTube and MySpace may be next on the music industry’s hit list, according to Universal Music Group CEO Doug Morris. Labelling them “copyright infringers,” Morris said that the label has plans to deal with the popular web sites and their hosting of infringing videos. I saw Mr. Morris on CEO Exchange late last night. He basically said that if an artist using Myspace, YouTube or any other social networking site as a tool to promote themselves and to further their career (me) is really going to be successful, they will still have to go through people like him. That’s interesting, Doug. I didn’t have to go through you to make my record. My friends, fans and investors paid for it. I have also had a lot of success going out and earning fans myself, using those cute little sites you belittled. I didn’t need your help with that either. Weird. According to Doug Morris, artists like myself are going to amount to nothing if we rely on the steadily evolving and improving technology at our fingertips, via the internet. He’s either in denial, or just pissed off that the old music business is being pulled out from under him like a cheap oriental rug. I want to make him eat his words. We can do it together. You and I.

Remember that song? What does that mean anyway? He’s a hip hop outlaw? I don’t know. I’m the lyrical Jesse Jackson. No…the lyrical Jesse ‘The Body’ Ventura. Yeah. Sometimes people ask me where my songs come from and why I wrote them. I don’t always have an answer for them right away because I write songs to work things out in my head. Sometimes one chord, followed by a melody is a better way to say I’m sorry than any words can do. Certain songs are semi-autobiographical. Some are just stories. They are all based around the same things, though. Love and loss. Fear and doubt. Hope and regret. If you would like to know about a particular song, let me know. I’ll try to explain it as best as I can on here.

I’m getting ready to head out on tour for a couple of weeks right now.  I’m really looking forward to coming back to see all of you in the midwest and south. 

At the moment, I’m taking a break from my business responsibilities to give you a little update.  One man can take only so much of Microsoft Excel. 

 What’s new?  Let’s see…

We have decided to call the record The Long Tail.  I know that for a while I have been saying it will be called We’re All In This Together, but the new title seems to be the right fit.  Here’s why:

 

(From www.thelongtail.com) The theory of the Long Tail is that our culture and economy is increasingly shifting away from a focus on a relatively small number of “hits” (mainstream products and markets) at the head of the demand curve and toward a huge number of niches in the tail. As the costs of production and distribution fall, especially online, there is now less need to lump products and consumers into one-size-fits-all containers. In an era without the constraints of physical shelf space and other bottlenecks of distribution, narrowly-target goods and services can be as economically attractive as mainstream fare.

    One example of this is the theory’s prediction that demand for products not available in traditional bricks and mortar stores is potentially as big as for those that are. But the same is true for video not available on broadcast TV on any given day, and songs not played on radio. In other words, the potential aggregate size of the many small markets in goods that don’t individually sell well enough for traditional retail and broadcast distribution may rival that of the existing large market in goods that do cross that economic bar.

 You see, I believe my career path is an example of the long tail theory.  Also, the theory is based on a part of Zipf’s Law.  When I found that out, I kind of thought it was meant to be. 

We’re still all in this together.  That’s why I make music.  To connect with you out there.  I’m just trying to be as smart as I can with the way I bring my music to you.  I do not want to sign the first record deal that comes my way, or even count on a record company to solve all my problems.   I want to make as much happen for myself as I can.   It’s not that I am opposed to working with someone, or some company outside of my walls.  I am looking for the right opportunity.  When it comes, I will know.  Until then, I’ll take my own advice and Keep On.  You do the same.

-Andy

 

We got mixes back from Mark Needham. www.markneedham.com

He did First to Promise, Find You and Last to Know.  They sound amazing. 

 I can’t wait to get some more done and make them available to you. 

 I’ll be touring most of October.  Check my schedule at www.myspace.com/andyzipf